Players last night who have played for Saints academy. Wellens, Gardner, Wheeler, Foster, Moore, Eastmond, Graham, Cunningham, Roby, Dixon, Ashurst, Clough.

I stand to be corrected but other than Gardner I'd wager that all of them have been at Saints for their whole professional/academy careers as well. Fantastic stats.

agreed, i keep forgeting gardner was at barrow first

Not wrong. Something we should be very proud of.

I counted 20 out of the starting 26 from both teams comming through the academy.

Fantastic

I thought it was great and especially so since we put in such a good performance.

The communist cap is killing the game, you know.

Great news.
At Wigan this season, we have had Goulding, Ainscough, Sam & Joel Tomkins, Prescott, McIlorum, O'Carroll, Mossop, O'Loughlin, Hansen, Farrell, Tuson and Walker all played first team.

Now for the next bit,we need the RFL to have the balls to say that only 50% of any players salary that you bring through your academy should be counted on the "cap"

gardner signed from barrow at 18.. but still an excellent show of the youth setup working

i understand what you're saying, but it could work backwards.. for example if you only had to count half of say oulding, Ainscough, Sam & Joel Tomkins, Prescott, McIlorum, O'Carroll, Mossop, O'Loughlin, Hansen, Farrell, Tuson and Walker then obviously you'd have room on the cap, leaving room for signing 2 more decent players, meaning that two of them would be less likely to play

I was thinking more in terms of being able to pay them a decent salary. The 50% I used could be adjusted I suppose depending on number of first team appearances per season.
We need to encourage teams to spend money in developing the next generations of players.

I would also cut the non GB qualified players to no more than three per team (Catalan excepted)

im sure that hansen signed from south sydney so how can you say he came through your academy?

Can Fasavalu be counted as an academy player? I know he was quite young when came to us?
If so, then that's another to add to your score.

You are wrong.
Hansen has been at Wigan since he was 14 and has represented England at academy level.

I don't think you can count his as an academy player, but Saints definatly developed him.

This was (apart from the result) the best thing that we could take from the game, IMO. Many have branded the youngsters such as Ashurst and Dixon not good, and maybe they won't turn out good enough, but they stood up last night and was counted. They both had one of there best games for us, and if they continue to develop and build on that performance then they will give themselves a good chance of making it, IMO. I'm not getting carried away, and maybe they won't go on to make it, but they showed very good potential last night.

I totally agree brian, the rfl need to give clubs a reduction in players they have brought through. 50% is a good idea IMO.